


Peter Parker Stark-Rogers is Completely Normal, Thank You Very Much

by viennasunrise (kteaanne)



Category: Marvel 616, The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Established Relationship, Feels, M/M, POV Peter Parker, Peter's not freaking out or anything, Superfamily (Marvel), Superhero Registration Act, Timeline What Timeline, Tony and Steve fight, everything is really ok
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-23
Updated: 2015-10-23
Packaged: 2018-04-27 17:58:22
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,231
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5058310
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kteaanne/pseuds/viennasunrise
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Today was the last semi-normal day of Peter's life. Granted, being the son of Captain America and Iron Man didn't generally qualify as being "normal" but now he was really going to be a freak.</p><p>Not that anything was really normal before today. Pop disappeared after a fight he and Dad had had a few days ago and Peter hadn't heard from him since. His family was falling apart at the seams and this was going to make sure it stayed that way.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Peter Parker Stark-Rogers is Completely Normal, Thank You Very Much

“Why are you freaking out so bad? I think they can handle it,” Valeria said. From Peter’s position on the floor she looked ridiculous. Her head was falling off the edge of his bed and was getting redder by the second.

“You don’t understand… I don’t want to make things worse,” Peter dropped his head between his knees and willed himself not to cry. The timing of this could not have been worse.

“They’re adults, Pete. Whatever happens when you tell them wouldn’t be your fault.”

“It doesn’t matter, Val. They’ll freak out at me and then they’ll freak out at each other and then everyone will be mad and it will all be my fault.”

“Peter,” Val said, moving off the bed. She settled next to him on the floor and looped an arm around his shoulders, “They’ll understand. Judging by some of the stories my dad’s told me I think we can assume they’ve seen weirder things.”

“It’s not the weird I’m worried about,” Peter replied.

He’d been on a school field trip to Oscorp when it happened. He’d always been curious, a trait he totally picked up from Dad if anyone asked, and wandered a little from the group. Arachnids had always been fascinating to him; could you really blame him for getting distracted? One ended up biting him and that’s when things really got weird.

He didn’t think to tell Dad about it when he got home; it was just a spider bite and Dad would freak out about it, call Pop, and the whole night would have been one uncomfortable worry fest. It was fine. Peter was fine.

But then he started to feel funny; almost like he could tell when things were off. Not in the usual way, like being able to read emotion, but in this weird, seventh sense kind of way. It totally didn’t creep him out. At all.

Then things started to get weirder and he had a panic attack and called Val. They’d spent the first few hours down in Dad’s lab hacking into any part of Oscorp they could get to when they found out about Oscorp’s mostly-if-not-completely illegal genetic experiments and Peter started hyperventilating.

Val got them out of the lab before Dad got home so he couldn’t ask questions but Peter still hadn’t calmed down enough to talk anything through.

“Then what are you worried about, Peter?”

“You know Pop moved out, right?” It hurt just saying it. “He’s in DC and Dad won’t talk to me about it.”

“I won’t talk to you about what?” Dad’s voice came from the door.

Peter almost jumped out of his skin and tried to duck his head. Dad didn’t need to see that he was being a baby about it again.

“Nothing. It doesn’t matter,” Peter said, resolutely looking anywhere but at the door.

Val squeezed his shoulder before saying, “It’s late. I should get home,” and she walked out of the room.

A second later Dad was on the floor next to Peter, arm wrapped around his shoulders. He didn’t say anything and Peter kept trying to tell himself to keep it together; Dad didn’t need this right now.

“Petey,” Dad said, squeezing him into his side, “what won’t I talk to you about?”

Everything felt like it was too much and Peter was going to break from the effort of keeping it all inside. He didn’t want to talk about Pop, he didn’t want to talk about the spider thing. Dad was just going to freak out and tell him to leave well enough alone. Pop probably wasn’t coming back and if Dad found out about the bite nothing would ever go back to normal and Pop would _never_ come back. Nothing was right and the weight of it made Peter feel like he was going to fracture apart under the pressure.

“Peter,” Dad said, nudging him with his shoulder, “you know you can talk to me about it. What’s wrong?”

“Nothing,” Peter said, which ended up being a mistake. Talking burst the dam and he couldn’t keep it in anymore.

He leaned into Dad’s shoulder, tears streaming down his face, and broke apart.

Dad shushed him and ran his fingers through his hair. He didn’t say anything while Peter cried himself out. Eventually the sobs faded to labored breathing and he relaxed in Dad’s arms, feeling, if not better, than at least a little more like a kid, which made the whole freakout a little less embarrassing.

“You want to talk about it?” Dad asked after a little while.

“No,” Peter said, his voice ragged.

“Do you want to talk to Pop about it?”

Peter’s whole body went ridged involuntarily.

“He’s here?” he asked, wishing his voice didn’t sound so hopeful.

“He will be in a little while. We had some things we needed to talk about but that can wait if you want to talk to him instead.”

“How long is he gonna stay?” He really wished he could quit sounding hopeful; Pop wasn’t going to stay.

“I don’t know,” Dad said, his voice sounding strained. Dad didn’t like not knowing things.

“Why did he leave?” Peter asked before he could think better of it. He instantly wished he had kept his stupid mouth shut when he felt Dad’s back tense at the question. Stupid, stupid, stupid.

“Your father… He-- he’s doing what he thinks is best and we’ve had a disagreement about it. He didn’t really leave, our argument just happened to match up with a congressional hearing he had to be at that’s gone on a lot longer than it was supposed to.”

“So he didn’t move out?” Maybe things weren’t as bad as he thought they were.

“Not officially, no,” Dad said.

“Then why don’t you know how long he’s staying?” None of this made any sense to him.

Dad sighed. “There are some… things… happening in DC that might change how we live our lives. Fear of the unknown or the unfamiliar makes people do irrational things, even when it violates the rights of others. There is a bill on the floor of the Senate that has the potential to shake the foundations of this country and your father and I see it very differently. If it passes and President Ellis signs it into law we’re going to have to leave.”

“What kind of law?” If Dad was talking about moving this couldn’t be good.

“A registration of sorts, but that’s all I’m going to tell you about it right now. If it passes we can have a longer conversation.”

“What do you mean registration? Like Nazi Germany registration?”

Dad laughed uncomfortably. “I wish your father saw it that way.”

None of this made any sense. Pop hated the Nazis. Why was Dad being so cryptic?

Peter could hear footsteps in the hallway and looked up to the door just as Pop poked his head in the room. Dad untangled his arm from Peter’s shoulder and nudged him up, but Peter didn’t need the encouragement.

Face still red from crying he jumped off the floor and flung himself at Pop, burying his face in Pop’s shirt and holding on for dear life.

“Hey Pete,” Pop carded his hand through Peter’s hair, “how was the field trip?”

Peter went ridged and spat out the lie he’d been rehearsing in his head all day. “It was fun. The arachnid display was pretty cool.” Nothing to see here. No one got bit by an irradiated spider and suddenly had the ability to climb up walls and defy gravity. Everyone’s perfectly normal.

With his face covered he missed the look that passed between his parents.

“I’m glad you had fun,” Pop said. “Can I borrow your dad for a second?”

“Um, yeah,” Peter said, releasing him. Why couldn’t things just go back to normal?

Dad walked up behind him and squeezed Peter’s shoulder before he and Pop left the room, closing the door behind them.

When he heard their footsteps fade down the hall Peter poked his head out, making sure the coast was clear, and followed. If Dad wasn’t going to tell him everything then he was going to find out himself.

They’d gone back to their room, which Peter thought may have been a good sign, and the door was cracked just enough that Peter could see Dad sitting on the edge of their bed.

“--nator Phillips fought tooth nail about it. Nothing I said made any difference, Tony. They’re all afraid of a Stamford repeat. If we don’t give them some of what they want it’ll only get worse.” Pop was standing, trying to get Dad to look at him.

“You said that before and I still think you’ve lost it, Steve. Do you want to know what your son said when I explained less than 10% of this to him? He asked me if this was anything like the registration the Nazi’s put together, the _Nazi’s_ , Steve. How is it that our 15 year old son can see that and you, who _lived_ through it, can’t?”

“Don’t!” Pop was almost yelling at this point, “Tony, we’ve talked about this. This isn’t about Nazi Germany or personal liberty or even what’s best for the superhero community. I told you when Fury briefed us on the situation that this was always going to be about you and Peter to me. I’ve been selfless about things for years and I’m not going to sit by and let the world burn around us if there is a concrete way for me to keep the two of you safe.”

“I don’t need your protection,” Dad spat back.

“Fine. You don’t. But Peter does.”

“Forcing a registration and demanding that everyone unmask won’t keep Peter safe. You’re just going to paint a target on his back. When the world finds out who his parents are do you really think they’ll leave him alone? Even if Doom or AIM or the Mandarin don’t see hurting him as a viable way to get to us, which by the way would be an insane conclusion because it would totally work, he won’t live a normal life ever again. The paparazzi alone… It’s everything I never wanted for him and you know that, Steve.”

“Even if no one ever knows who you are, you’re still Tony Stark and everyone knows about your son and your husband. Our lives aren’t normal, Tony! When are you going to accept that and stop trying to make it that way?”

“There is an enormous difference between being the son of Tony Stark and his SHIELD agent husband and being the son of Iron Man and Captain America and you know that!” Now Dad was yelling.

“We’re just arguing in circles, Tony. There isn’t a better option. If we just go along with this we can make it work.”

“ _We_ aren’t going along with anything. You are, all on your own. I’ve already given you the perfect solution and you decided it was off the table.”

“If we left New York we’d be putting thousands, if not millions, of lives at risk, Tony. As appealing as leaving sounds, I can’t do it.”

Dad sighed and from where Peter was crouched it looked like all the fight drained out of him. “I know you believe that, but it’s insane. SHIELD is an international organization that only answers to the UN. We don’t have to stay here. If we left we wouldn’t have to be subjected to the laws passed here in the U.S. if they needed us back for a mission. There are other places we can go, the E.U. for one, that won’t force us to unmask.”

“Running away from a problem solves nothing.”

Dad stood up and crossed the room to where Pop was standing and hugged him from behind. “When we met I tried running away from you and you wouldn’t let me. I tried pushing you away and you kept coming back. I threw every insult and vitriolic remark your way and you forgave me over, and over, and over again. You forced me to realize I was being stupid; that all my insecurities and daddy issues didn’t matter. If I’ve learned _one_ thing from you, after all these years, it’s that running away solves nothing.

“I didn’t ask you to run away with me to Canada for all those years when the U.S. was still working out its homophobia. I didn’t ask you to run away with me when we lost Clint to Ultron or when that thing happened with Wanda and the Vision. I have never once asked you to run away with me just because Reed Richards exists, despite constantly wishing that I could. Over the years you and I have fought every battle head on as a team, Steve, and it’s worked up until now. Why is this so different?”

Pop hung his head, threading his fingers through Dad’s. “I don't want to. God, Tony, I don't want to. If you make me do this alone I will, but together is the only way that really works. Senator Phillips keeps telling me I have a duty to protect this country, he’s convinced Captain America is bigger than all of this and that somehow Captain America is government property and I just have to go along with it. They wanted to round everyone up, Tony. They have some insane plan to lock us all up and throw away the key. The way they talked about it made it sound like they hoped we’d tear each other apart and solve their problem for them.

“A few of the senators from out west suggested that the U.S. would suddenly be immune to super villain attacks if we all disappeared. One even suggested that we could avoid another attempted invasion if the rest of the cosmos knew we’d all been exiled to deep space like Hulk. They’re terrified, Tony, and if we don’t compromise and try to influence the solution they do come up with it will all be so much worse.” He paused and took a deep breath, “They’ll try and take him away from us, Tony. I can’t let them do that,” Pop sounded like he was crying.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” Dad asked.

“When we talked about it last week you lost it. From the minute the word ‘registration’ left Fury’s mouth you’d been on edge and defensive and worried about Peter. When you get like that it’s pointless to try and have a rational conversation with you and I didn’t want to make things worse. That fight… When I left for D.C. the next day you wouldn’t even look at me. I didn’t think calling and telling you all this over the phone was exactly the best idea. To be honest, I was a little afraid if I did tell you, I’d come home tonight to find an empty house and a note from you telling me not to follow you.”

“Steve,” Dad’s voice was almost a whisper, “sweetheart, Peter and I aren’t going anywhere without you.”

“Logically I know that, but you seemed so sure that leaving the country was the only way to beat this.”

“I stand by that. The fact that any one of them could suggest that exiling us all to deep space would be a reasonable solution to their problems should really tip you off to how insane they all are. They’re not going to see reason, Steve, and I don’t think we should give them a chance to think any kind of a compromise that requires us to unmask is one worth making. We don’t have to leave forever, but if this is how things are going we can’t just bend over and take it.”

“That’s just running away, Tony.”

“No, it really isn’t. If it makes you feel better we can call it an extended vacation with our son. We can show him Europe and you can take us back to some of the places you were during the war. If the whole thing happens to take more than a year then so be it. We already have a house in the Bavarian Alps that’s been neglected for far too long and you’ve always said Peter needs to learn more than just English and Spanish.”

“And what do we do if SHIELD or the Avengers need us while we’re ignoring all of our responsibilities?”

“Well, I own more than one corporate jet and SHIELD has bases all over the world. If they need us, they can come find us. We can come back, take care of the job, and leave again without having to hand over our whole lives to these people.”

“If it’s an imminent thing, Tony, we’ll be too far away.”

“We aren’t taking the whole team, Steve. If you think for one second that I have any interest in dealing with Logan or Tigra while I’m trying to enjoy myself in Europe you’ve lost it. They can stay here and protect the home base. They were doing it long before we were. I think they could handle a few hours on their own. They might even like it.”

“You have a point,” Pop conceded.

Dad laughed into his shoulder blade, “Of course I do. Nice to see you’re starting to see reason, Rogers.”

“Don’t push it.” Pop teased.

Dad laughed again. “I love you, you know.”

“I think I’ve heard you say that once or twice,” Pop turned around, cupping Dad’s face in his hands before kissing him.

It took everything Peter had not to face palm and yell “yuck”. At least they weren’t yelling at each other anymore.

“What was going on with Peter earlier?” Pop asked now that he wasn’t being gross with Dad anymore.

“I don’t really know. He seemed upset about something other than what was going on between us but he wouldn’t talk about it. Val was over before, she probably knows but I doubt she’d tell us if we asked.”

Peter had been mulling over telling them while they were talking. It wasn’t that the whole idea of being exiled to space wasn’t terrifying (or really just way too cool to ever even stop thinking about) but Pop had said something that he couldn’t get out of his brain.

_“Running away from a problem solves nothing.”_

Running away wouldn’t solve the spider thing. Ignoring it wouldn’t make it go away. He’d always been raised knowing who his parents were, that Pop had spent 70 years frozen in ice and that Dad had been tortured in a cave in Afghanistan. Neither one of them ever ran away from what made them who they are and Peter didn’t want to run away from this either. He’d probably give them both heart attacks and he was sure Pop would lecture him about leaving the group during the field trip, but they could help him with this. Pop wasn’t leaving and Dad wasn’t mad anymore and they were still a family. It was going to be OK.

He allowed himself one more second to freak out before he extended his hand out and knocked on the door.

Dad said “come in” from the other side and he pushed it open.

“Um, I need to tell you guys something. Please don’t be mad…”


End file.
